Five Song Friday: Indulgent Distractions
Business monkeys, Finnish freaks and internet overlords.
The world is weird right now.
It’s angry and sad and out of control.
Things are burning and broken.
Sharing a handful of catchy songs feels like an indulgent distraction.
And it absolutely is.
But sometimes we need a distraction. A break from the madness. A recharge for the soul.
Think of this list as a 15 minute and 51 second vacation. Turn off the news, shut down Twitter and slip on some headphones.
I know it ain’t much, but it’s what I got.
And now I’m giving it to you.
Thank you for reading.
Enjoy the music.
Love,
DJ Crankypete
“Boom!” - Little Wings
Kyle Field is Little Wings.
He is both a man and a band.
I tell you this just in case you see him and want to say hello.
Don’t say “Hey Little!” or “Excuse me, Mr. Wings.”
He will probably ignore you.
Go formal and show some respect. Call him Mr. Field.
No high-fives. Don’t ask if you can pet his beard.
Maybe just a good old-fashioned handshake to thank him for this song.
This song is delightful. Bouncy and odd. Good-natured and goofy.
Listening to it is like watching a tiny monkey in a business suit who can’t keep his pants up.
Do you know what I mean?
If you see a human man in a suit and he has a hard time with his pants, it’s kind of sad and unsettling.
But a monkey? There’s no way you don’t smile.
What are you even doing, you crazy business monkey?
Get those pants up! You have to meet with CLIENTS this afternoon!
“Uh Huh” - Jade Bird
Jade Bird is a British singer-songwriter.
Her real name is… Jade Bird.
Huh. Really?
Well, that seems lucky. It’s a good thing she’s a singer because a cool name like that would be wasted if she just worked in an office somewhere and never fulfilled her artistic destiny.
“Thank you all for coming. I’d like to start this meeting with a review of our updated dental plan options, so let’s turn things over to our regional assistant director of human resources… JADE BIRD.”
Gross, right?
“And the final sales award of the night goes to a Call Center Customer Service Representative from our Expiring Automobile Warranty Department… Miss JADE BIRD!”
Ugh. Can you imagine?
Luckily, she’s making a go of this music thing.
This here song sounds like a fiery and cathartic F-you to an ex-boyfriend (which it probably is, but I don’t know anything her personal life).
It’s catchy and funny and gets right to the point without much “mucking about” (as they say in England).
After listening, you won’t be surprised to learn that Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill is one of Jade’s all-time favorite albums.
This song echoes Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” but “Uh Huh” is shorter, less Canadian and spares us the awkwardness of imagining Dave Coulier doing sex in a movie theater.
“Hey Dude” - The Mattoid
The Mattoid is a very specific kind of weirdo.
You get that vibe from the first line in this song:
“Hey dude, what you going to do with that whaling harpoon in your hand?”
Spoiler alert: Nothing nice.
Nobody’s ever said, “Thank God! Here comes a guy with a whaling harpoon.”
Especially whales. They HATE those things.
But after a dark turn or two, the song ends on a high note. The Mattoid’s accent is thick, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with reindeer, randy Finnish ladies and the Volga River.
The Mattoid’s real name is Ville Kiviniemi. His stage name is an Old English word that means “a person with a congenitally abnormal mind, bordering on insanity or degeneracy.”
Instead of trying to describe The Mattoid as a musician, I’ll defer to Adam Gold from the Nashville Scene, who beautifully summed up the singer as “a poncho-clad, crazy-eyed, comedic ogre from Finland, belting out grunts and obscenities in broken English atop a bizarre brand of cocktail-party-anti-folk.”
The only thing I would add is please don’t watch this YouTube video if you care at all about the song “Wonderwall.”
“More U Know” - Raf Rundell
Raf Rundell worked as a DJ for years before forming the dance pop duo The 2 Bears with Joe Goddard from Hot Chip.
Rundell’s solo work definitely benefits from his musical past. His songs are playful, experimental and “all over the map” in a good way. And Raf knows how to get your head nodding and your toes tapping.
But I found some disturbing words on his label’s bio page.
Talking about his process, Rundell said, “I’m mucking around mostly and waiting for it to happen and occasionally it does, but I couldn’t tell you how or why.”
That led me to believe that he might literally not know how to make music.
Maybe he surrounds himself with people who tell him that he does. People that enable his delusion. Real musicians who work behind the scenes to spare him heartbreak.
Does Raf go into a studio and just randomly bang on instruments, yell nonsense and twist knobs? And then, after a few hours, his friends give him the thumbs up and record the “real songs” while Raf is asleep?
Because that would be messed up.
Amazing, but still messed up.
“End of the Road” - Noga Erez
Two things you need to know about Noga Erez:
She’s an Israeli singer-songwriter.
One of her songs was used in an Apple ad campaign.
Okay, you didn’t really NEED to know those things. They certainly don’t add or detract from the listening experience. I probably shouldn’t have said anything.
I’ve always been a fan of letting the music speak for itself.
Because sometimes when you do research, you find out things you’d rather not know.
I’m not saying Noga has anything to hide. She probably does. We all do.
But I’m not going to be the one to tell you about it.
Of course, you can do whatever you want. These days all you have to do is say a name into Google or Siri or Alexa and the robots will tell you everything you need to know.
But keep in mind, once you say her name into those devices, you’ve showed your hand to the internet overlords. They will know you are curious about Noga Erez and they will use that curiosity against you.
Don’t ask me how or why. It will probably come back up when you least expect it.
Maybe you’ll be online, loading up your virtual Amazon cart with mouthwash and dog food and the site will “casually suggest” that you might want to add an album from Noga Erez.
You’ll be like, whaaaat? How did they know I love that song?
They’ll know because you TOLD THEM.
Smooth move. They’ve just HACKED YOUR BRAIN.
Great. Now your Roomba speaks with the voice of Jeff Bezos and every time you sneeze, Siri sends an email to the CDC.
Good luck with that.
Listen on Spotify
Listen on YouTube Music
That’s all for now.
See you next time!
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” - Martin Mull